I'm so torn on this subject. With my oldest 2, we did all the vaccines because it was what the doctor said to do. With #3 I began to question it because of DS's severe reaction to the prevnar vaccine. When I mentioned my hesitation to do any more vaccines in light of his reaction, I was called "stupid" for questioning her (yes my pediatrician called me stupid in front of my kids), so I had to find a new pediatrician. The new pediatrician says he is ok with parents who choose not to vaccinate, but related scary stories about how at least one kid from their practice dies every year because they weren't vaccinated, and how if we choose to not vaccinate the baby, we basically have to live in a bubble so she doesn't get exposed to anything.

So here I am with a decision to make. To vax, or not to vax. I will refuse the MMR and varicella vaccines due to ethical considerations, and I won't do hep b because I think it's ridiculous to vaccinate a baby for an STD, but what about the rest? I am hesitant because I feel vaccines have gotten out of control with how many are administered at a time and I also question their effectiveness. But on the other hand, I want to do what's best for my kids to make sure they are healthy.

Can anyone point me in the direction of good info? I need independent scientific studies to prove they are effective and safe, not a government fact sheet or sales brochure from a drug company.

I want to know better resources on this too. I agree that it's scary how many heavy metals are in them for little people, but I also know that there are people who've dedicated their lives to providing vaccines world wide so that children don't have to suffer from Polio and things like that any more. There have been a few isolated small pox outbreaks because of fewer people vaccinating. We've vaccinated our boys on schedule, but are open to doing something different in the future if we can find unbiased informative resources.

What do you mean about ethical reasons for the varicella and MMR? Varicella was really important to me for my sons to get because I almost died from chicken pox. No one thinks that's a serious illness, but fatal cases are actually not all that unusual.

I want to know better resources on this too. I agree that it's scary how many heavy metals are in them for little people, but I also know that there are people who've dedicated their lives to providing vaccines world wide so that children don't have to suffer from Polio and things like that any more. There have been a few isolated small pox outbreaks because of fewer people vaccinating. We've vaccinated our boys on schedule, but are open to doing something different in the future if we can find unbiased informative resources.

What do you mean about ethical reasons for the varicella and MMR? Varicella was really important to me for my sons to get because I almost died from chicken pox. No one thinks that's a serious illness, but fatal cases are actually not all that unusual.

I didn't want to start a debate by opening this can of worms, but since you asked... It's my understanding that fetal stem cells from aborted babies are used in the production of these two vaccines (and some others that are not routinely given). I am very pro-life, so this is not okay with me.

Hep B can also be transmitted through blood and other bodily fluids if I remember correctly. Maybe a look at what was in the vax that caused a reaction and what ingredients might cause it in the future?

I would start with the CDC pink book which is free online. I think once you know what an illness is, the likelyhood of whether or not your child would be truly at risk, how dangerous the disease is and kinds of complications and then compare that to the risks of the shot itself, complications including maiming and death, you will be able to make a better informed decision. There is a lot of inflammatory information out there for both sides of the issue. It is your job as the parent to know why or why not you choose to vaccinate and be comfortable with defending your decision.

We chose not to vaccinate our 3rd child at all and stopped any further vaccinations for our other 2 children. We will not vaccinate routinely again. I have friends that ask me about vaccinating and I always tell them to get informed. And if you are on the fence, don't do it. You can always choose to vaccinate later but you can never take back a vaccination that has been given. Good luck in your searching and decision making!

I like Dr. Sears The Vaccine Book. He's actually pro-vaccine, but it gives you the run down of what is in the vaccine, what it protects against, etc. I thought it was pretty comprehensive.

yes. This book helped me TREMENDOUSLY with this decision.

I think a t some point, we will bring the kids up to date on their vaxes. But right now I am just not comfortable with it.

As far as living in a bubble, I am not quite sure I understand what that means.

We don't vax, our 5.5 yr old has had the most vaxes, she was routinely vaxed until age 2. Our middle child had the first 2 rounds as a newborn, and no more since. He is 4. Our youngest has never had a vax. We will not vax this next baby.

We don't live in a bubble. We go places a lot, we have friends, our kids play at the mall play area, the local park, go to the library, the children's museum, and we are always coming or going somewhere it seems. Far from living in a bubble, we are out a lot! We are probably gone doing something at least 3 nights/days a week, sometimes as many as 5 or 6.

We DO school them at home. But here that doesn't matter. I could still send them to school with the exemption form if I wanted to. I just prefer not to for other reasons, but it's not b/c I'm scared they'll catch a scary disease.

Vaxes are a hard choice to make. It's all about risk assessment. I highly recommend Dr. Sears Vaccine Book. He really breaks down each vaccine, it's side effects, how scary the disease is that it's supposed to prevent, the statistics about the disease (how many kids catch it per yr? How often is it deadly? How often do kids have life-long affects from the disease? etc). I was surprised to find how "harmless" (ie, not life threatening, just very unpleasant) many diseases are that we've become conditioned to be terrified of....

I didn't want to start a debate by opening this can of worms, but since you asked... It's my understanding that fetal stem cells from aborted babies are used in the production of these two vaccines (and some others that are not routinely given). I am very pro-life, so this is not okay with me.

I'm pro-life too. Fwiw, the stem cells were used in the original production of the vaccine, but aren't used on a continuing basis for ongoing production. Just FYI.

I didn't want to start a debate by opening this can of worms, but since you asked... It's my understanding that fetal stem cells from aborted babies are used in the production of these two vaccines (and some others that are not routinely given). I am very pro-life, so this is not okay with me.

I'm pro-life too. Fwiw, the stem cells were used in the original production of the vaccine, but aren't used on a continuing basis for ongoing production. Just FYI.

I agree that it's about risk assessment. Also, just because lots of people have been vaccinated doesn't meant that all of them are better because of it. Reportedly there were over 14,000 cases of vaccine- induced polio in India last year. So they are claiming that the vaccine is eradicating the disease, but it's actually giving some people polio.

But we're not a third-world country. I think another misconception is that vaccine is the only way to prevent a disease, or complications from said disease. Actually, good hygiene and a healthy diet go a LONG way towards preventing many of the diseases that children are vaccinated against. Generally speaking, children who have strong immune systems won't have serious consequences and will make it through these childhood illnesses just fine. You might never even know that they had been exposed.

My first was in daycare for the first 16 months of her life, and periodically is exposed to daycare in home or the gym. She almost never got sick, and generally stayed healthier than the other kids in daycare. I'm not saying that it's just because she wasn't vaccinated, but my point in mentioning that is that she didn't have any negative consequences from not vaxing.
I've done the research and to me, the risks of the vaccines outweigh the risk of serious risks from the diseases. I also have ethical objections to the way some of the vaccines are developed (aborted fetal cells are used in production of chicken pox and a few others).
Modern Alternative Mama did a risk/benefit analysis a few months back that you might like.http://www.modernalternativemama.com.../#.UG4cvGaYNok